[Laser] OPT-101 vs PIN diode

[Art]

I find it interesting although I have not seen the Scatterpoint article.

I'm curious as to whether G0EWN shielded the OPT-101 circuit well, 
for them to work, they need top grade shielding.

Also, did he optimize the bandwidth of the OPT-101 to the very 
minimum necessary to receive the transmitted signal? The sensitivity 
of the OPT-101 goes away quickly unless it is set for the minimum 
bandwidth needed to receive the transmitted signal.

I've never been able to figure out what determines the bandwidth of 
the PGP receiver (besides the photodiode itself). So, I've never built one.

Art






>I was thinking about using the OPT-101 I acquired a
>while back for my second receiver project until I read
>a short article in the May 2005 issue of the UK
>journal "Scatterpoint", in which G0EWN says he got
>much better results using a photodiode (SFH2030) and a
>K3PGP-like preamp than from an OPT-101.
>
>My first receiver uses a photodiode (from a CD player)
>and a high impedance FET front end, very loosely based
>on K3PGP's ideas.
>
>Does anyone care to comment on the tradeoff between
>the OPT-101 and photodiodes ?
>
>73,
>Steve VE3SMA